Sports
Hockey

Trappers dump Majors — twice

THOMAS PERRY/POSTMEDIA

Sunday, February 4, 2018
2:17:16 EST AM

North Bay Trappers defenceman Dylan Bond sets his sights on a rebound lying in the crease in front of Timmins goalie Dylan Dallaire during the third period of Saturday aftenoon’s GNML game at the McIntyre Arena, but Majors defenceman Frederic Leclair-Pouw was able to keep him from reaching the puck. The Trappers went on to defeat the Majors 7-5 after beating them 5-2 Friday night.
THOMAS PERRY/POSTMEDIA

TIMMINS - The Timmins Majors’ hopes of finishing fourth in the GNML’s Major Division standings will come down to one final game.

If the Majors beat, tie or lose to the Nickel Capital Wolves in overtime or a shootout on Sunday, fourth place is theirs and they will have home-ice advantage for their playoff series against the Greyhounds.

If they lose in regulation, however, then they will open the GNML playoffs on the road in Sault Ste. Marie.

All of the drama could have been avoided, however, if they had managed to beat, tie or lose to the GNML-leading North Bay Trappers in overtime or a shootout Friday night or Saturday afternoon.

But after dropping a 5-2 loss to visitors at the McIntyre Arena Friday night, the Majors blew an excellent opportunity to secure the single point they needed Saturday afternoon and had to settle for a 7-5 loss.

Trailing the contest 4-2 after two periods of play, the Majors showed a lot of heart to battle back with a pair of goals in the first three minutes of the third period to knot things up at 4-4.

Dryden Rivet, with his ninth goal of the season, had the first of those two markers at the 1:34 mark and Kobe Barrette followed with a power-play marker, his 12th goal of the campaign, just over a minute later.

The elation felt by Majors fans was quickly dissipated, however, when Bailey Chenier scored his seventh goal of the season less than two minutes later.

Again the Majors were able to rally and tie things up at 5-5, with Cameron Chisholm scoring his 10th goal of the season just over a minute later.

Even after defenceman Dylan Bond scored a power-play marker, his third goal of the season, fans held out hope the Majors would once again battle back.

Those hopes were pretty much dashed, however, when Cole Craft scored his 20th goal of the season with less than six-and-a-half minutes remaining in regulation to increase the Trappers’ advantage to 7-5.

And a steady parade of Majors to the penalty box in the game’s final five minutes stamped out any embers of hope which may have remained.

It also resulted in Majors coach Brandon Perry being tossed from the contest with 38 seconds remaining for verbal abuse of the officials.

Things didn’t start out much better than they finished for the Majors, as they fell behind 2-0 in the game’s first 10 minutes — thanks to a pair of Matt Hardwick goals, his 21st and 22nd of the season, the second of which was a power-play marker.

Defenceman Cameron Dutkiewicz finally got the Majors on the scoreboard 40 seconds later, when he scored his ninth goal of the season, with the home side on the power play.

Ian Denomme’s 12th goal of the season, midway through the second period, restored the Trappers’ two-goal advantage.

Riley Brousseau’s unassisted marker, his 13th goal of the season, pulled the Majors back to within a single goal four-and-a-half minutes remaining in the frame, but the Trappers regained their two-goal lead a minute-and-a-half later on a Jacob Peterson Galema power-play marker, his 12th goal of the season.

That set the stage for all the third-period drama to followed.

Joel Rainville went the distance in net for the Trappers to pick up his 18th win of the season.

Dylan Dallaire was between the pipes for the Majors and he was tagged with the loss.

TRAPPERS 5 MAJORS 2

Craft set up three goals Friday night as the Trappers dumped the Majors 5-2 at the McIntyre Arena.

The visitors broke the game open with a pair of unanswered third-period markers, as they skated to their 28th victory on the season.

The Majors got off to a good start Friday night.

Chisholm’s ninth goal of the season, a power-play marker, gave the home side a 1-0 lead at the 5:43 mark of the opening period.

The Trappers tied things up six-and-a-half minutes later, however, when Hunter Foreshew netted his 17th goal of the season.

North Bay then took a 2-1 lead early in the second period on Bond’s second goal of the season.

Defenceman Cameron Svec knotted things up at 2-2 just over two minutes later when he scored his third goal of the season, a power-play marker.

The Trappers were able to retake the lead before the end of the frame, however, when Denomme scored his 11th goal of the season.

Goals by Nick Hakala, his 10th of the season, and Sam Garagan, his 10th of the campaign, increase the Trappers advantage in the third period and made the final 5-2 in favour of the visitors.

Rainville went the distance in net to earn his 17th win on the season for the Trappers, while Dallaire was between the pipes for the Majors and was tagged with the loss.